With nearly 70% of New Jersey adults fully vaccinated against COVID, the state has the eighth highest vaccination rate in the country, according to federal data.
More than 5.11 million people who live, work or study in the state have now been fully vaccinated, according to state data.
But there are still some large communities that are lagging, state officials note.
The state continues to focus on increasing vaccinations in areas where there are lower rates, Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said at Monday’s coronavirus briefing.
Of municipalities with populations of over 10,000, Lakewood and Phillipsburg tie for the lowest rate, with only 39% of the adult population fully vaccinated, according to June 13 data on the state’s COVID vaccination dashboard. Both municipalities’ vaccination rates went up 4% in the past four weeks.
Warren County officials disputed the state’s data about Phillipsburg last week, saying many of its residents were likely vaccinated across the Delaware River in Pennsylvania and are therefore not part of New Jersey’s data.
The next lowest vaccination towns based on state data are New Brunswick (41%), Bridgeton (42%), Irvington (42%) and East Orange (43%). They were followed by Trenton (45%), Camden (46%), Glassboro (47%) and Orange (49%).
Persichilli said the Department of Health currently has “county ambassadors” working with elected officials, local public health departments and community groups to increase vaccination rates in 11 counties: Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Passaic and Union.
“The collaborations are helping to increase rates and it provides, also, insight into these communities,” she said.
She said the Health Department’s data team is working with community leaders to establish trends in the numbers, citing New Brunswick as telling a different story than the numbers show.
“We’ve determined that their coverage is actually over 70% when you give consideration to the number of students living off campus in New Brunswick who must get vaccinated to return to Rutgers,” she said.
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Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.